The Path to Darkness
by Brooke Chiang
Summary: Asuna watches helplessly as her beloved Kirito spends more and more time with Sachi, and fears she is losing him. Then, an enigmatic figure from the shadows offers her strange, but dark opportunity...


Asuna Yuuki gritted her teeth and clenched her grip tightly on her silverware as she glared at the empty seat before her. Her husband Kirito had been gone for the third night in a row.

'Running around with that stupid, useless girl!' Asuna gritted her teeth in anger. "I won't let her steal my Kirito!"

"M-Mommy? W-Why do you look so angry?" Their adopted daughter, Yui, asked with nervous innocence.

"Don't worry about it, Yui," Asuna soothed. "Daddy has just been… led astray by a very bad woman. He's been tricked. That's why he's been gone so many nights."

"W-What?" Yui's eyes widened in alarm. "T-Then we have to help him!"

"Don't worry, Yui," Asuna reassured her daughter. "Mommy will bring him back, I promise."

"Good!" Yui looked a bit relieved.

But Asuna wasn't paying attention- she had gone back to brooding in simmering rage.

According to Kirito, this girl- Sachi, was apparently previously part of the same guild as Kirito- the Moonlit Black Cats. While exploring a dungeon, the group had stumbled into a trap, and three of the group's members were killed- only Sachi survived, as she was saved by Kirito, as well as Keita, who had been buying a new base for the group. Kirito blamed himself, as he'd recognized the trap but hesitated in revealing this to the group in fear of letting them know his true level.

Apparently, Keita had thought the same, blaming Kirito vitolically, and Kirito had hastily left the group in dejection, ignoring Sachi's impassioned pleas to stay. However, recently, Keita had been killed. His death had been suspected to be the work of the perfidious red guild, Laughing Coffin, who'd been responsible for a series of brutal murders in the area.

Sachi had messaged Kirito just days after Keita had died, seeking his comfort and consolation. Kirito immediately agreed, ignoring or overlooking Asuna's over displeasure.

Since then, Kirito had only dropped by a few times, to rest, drop stuff off, and restock. Kirito had carelessly rebuffed Asuna's concerns and attempts to bade him stay by stating he was helping Sachi train in preparation to rebuild her guild, but Asuna had seen the way they talked and laughed, and it enraged her how he was showing his brilliant smile to this… interloper, but not her.

Asuna grit her teeth as she cleaned up the table after dinner, including the empty plate and silverware she'd set up for Kirito… still hoping… that he'd show. "I- I won't allow that filthy minx to steal my Kirito away!" She muttered angrily under her breath.

That night, as Yui slept soundly Asuna, perturbed and disconsolate over Kirito's absence, left their house on the 22nd Level and started wandering. She visited her old, now empty home in Selmburg, which only left her with a sense of destitute loneliness and grief. She ended up storming out and traveled to the Knights of the Blood headquarters in Granzam on Level 55. The couple guards on duty at night hastily greeted their Vice Commander, but Asuna paid them little heed, and gestured at the tired guards to be at ease.

Walking through the building's now-dark and empty halls, Asuna reminisced about the past, about her time with Kirito, including the brief time Kirito joined the Knights of the Blood after his duel with Heathcliffe. A tear leaked down her face as those memories ran through her head, those moments- both happy and frightening moments- all causing her anguish in this time.

"You miss Kirito, don't you?" A deep masculine voice spoke out without warning, its speaker veiled in the darkness behind Asuna.

"Who's there?" Asuna shouted, her blade in her hand in a flash, heart pounding in her chest. "Show yourself!"

"My name is not important," The voice drawled, coming out of the shadows like a phantom, a red cursor hovering over his head. A figure completely covered with a drooping black, hooded cloak that left no feature of him- or her- exposed. "And I won't hurt you. You can say I represent an… opportunity."

"How did you get in here?!" Asuna demanded. "This is the headquarters of the Knights of Blood!"

"You needn't concern yourself with that. Asuna, is there anyone you could hate enough, you'd want to kill them?"

"That- that's none of your business!" Asuna attempted to retort sharply, but she couldn't belie the hesitation in her voice.

The cloaked figure must have picked it up on it too, as it approached steadily. "There is, isn't there? Someone you want dead, isn't there? Maybe there's some Laughing Coffin material in you yet."

"L-Laughing Coffin?" Asuna's eyes widened at the mention. "The red guild?! Why b-bring them u-up now? T-They're gone! How-"

"You see, I'm from Laughing Coffin, and I've been scout-"

Asuna had heard enough.

After what happened with Kuradeel, she wasn't about to make nice with any Laughing Coffin scumbags.

She lunged with her sword, striking with the deadliest attack she had up her sleeve… to shockingly no effect. "Wha- What-?"

Above the figure the words, "Immortal Object" had appeared.

"Wha- Are you- you can't be… an NPC?! Or-"

"Hahaha, such murderous intent! And no hesitation! I was right about you! Oh, we have… met before, Asuna, but you don't need to know the details. And no, I'm not an NPC… I'm a player just like you. However, sometimes, when I act on his behalf, Kayaba grants me "Immortal Object status". The figure paused momentarily. "The few people who know of this call me 'the Hand of Kayaba'. A cliche, but apt name."

"Few who know?" Asuna demanded fiercely. "How many people are party to this madness?!"

"A handful- Laughing Coffin members primarily, but others who have had dealings with me. Many have profited- and you can too. You want to keep Kirito, don't you? Or are you just going to let Sachi lure him away?"

"N- No-!" Asuna exclaimed in horror. "T- That will n-never h-happen! I won't allow it!"

"Then I will help," The Hand of Kayaba gestured in its best facsimile of a generous gesture. "If you're willing to stain your hands with blood…"

"B-But- I- I'd be a m-murderer…" Asuna stared down at her hands, understanding the Hand of Kayaba's implication. "K-Kirito w-would never love a red player who'd killed in cold blood…"

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him," The Hand of Kayaba remarked simply, holding up a talisman.

"W- What is t-that?" Asuna looked skeptically, her hands shaking slightly.

"It's a system hack item Kayaba gave me that helps conceals one's cursor color from others. It's only found in a Secret Dungeon that Kayaba recently opened- but only us Laughing Coffin members know about it."

"B- But how are there so many of you?" Asuna was intrigued, despite herself. "I thought… you guys were mostly wiped out during the Clearers raid on your base!"

The Hand of Kayaba chuckled. "A good portion of the old Laughing Coffin was, but the guild leader and a small cabal were tipped off by an informant in the Clearers. They were the ones who recruited Kuradeel, I recall. Then Kayaba recruited me to bring Laughing Coffin to heel. I had to kill a few of them before they had to listen to what I had to say. I must say, it was pretty funny watching them try to attack me when I had 'Immortal Object status'."

The Hand of Kayaba commented dryly as if he was talking about the weather or what he had for breakfast.

"Still, there's a rift in the group- now- one faction has been quick to bow to me and Kayaba, but another is still very much the old, murderous Laughing Coffin, not too happy about my leadership…"

"Interesting story, but what does all this have to do with me? From my perspective, you're all still my enemies!" Asuna cut in sharply.

"It doesn't have to be that way," The Hand of Kayaba asserted, almost kindly, gently. "Laughing Coffin takes care of our own." He stepped closer and took Asuna's hands in his own, gloved hands, extending out of his cloak, while the conflicted Asuna stared on, almost mesmerized by the enigmatic figure before her.

Yet, there was something almost… familiar… about his mannerisms and aura… awfully familiar… even comfortingly so… but for the life of her she couldn't remember where she'd seen it before.

Meanwhile, the Hand of Kayaba placed the talisman in her hand and closed Asuna's fingers around it. "So, are you going to take it or not?"

At last, Asuna made up her mind and stared straight into the cloaked head of the Hand of Kayaba, her eyes steely. "Fine! I've made up my mind!"

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Irrelevant Historical Fact: Today in HIstory:

Three years ago on this day, July 19, 2015, nefarious terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) carried out an atrocious bombing in the predominantly-Shiite Muslim city of Khan Bani Saad in Diyala Governorate of Iraq.

The attack, targeting Shiite civilians, was allegedly in retaliation for the corrupt Shiite Islamist goverment's brutal reconquest and "cleansing" operations in Diyala Governorate and the brutal repression and killings of the Sunni minority by government-sponsored and Iranian-armed Shiite terrorist groups, the so-called "Popular Mobilization Forces".

The ISIL terrorists hid the bomb inside an ice cream truck and broadcast by loudspeaker the claim he was offering a discount because of Eid al-Fitr holiday. Once people had gathered around, the truck detonated the three tonnes of explosives inside, killing about 130 people including 15 children. At least another 130 were injured, and several nearby buildings collapsed.


End file.
